Thursday, October 18, 2012

Field Trip to Booker, Texas

Between them,
Jerome and Bobette Doerrie served on the Panhandle Professional Writer’s (PPW)
board for almost a decade. They enlisted each other when needing help, partly
because, as married couples are wont to do, it’s easy to call “Honey....” Also,
it is not easy to recruit volunteers from Amarillo when you live on a farm near
Booker, Texas.

An educator,
Bobette said they both flunked “Retirement.” She is still teaching (in
Panhandle in the mornings, and Woodward, OK, in the evenings); Jerome, despite
the drought, still farms. Schedule conflicts have precluded their PPW meeting
attendance lately, but they continue to write. “Curriculum” Bobette chuckled.
She also writes poetry. Jerome founded an astronomy club four years ago, and since
then, his main writing focus favors astronomy.

Located in Lipscomb
County, TX, Booker should be an excellent place to view the night sky. The entire county’s population is under
3,500. In fact, despite its designation as the county seat, I drove past the
entire town when looking for its courthouse this afternoon. With my friend, Sondra Kennon, navigating, we
backtracked and found the building—quiet and dignified on the outside, bustling
with activity of wonderfully friendly people within.

With Sondra’s help,
I was delivering a jeepload of books to the Lipscomb County library. The
courthouse maintenance crew directed us to a nearby once-vacant schoolhouse,
now turned into a library. They unloaded the books in a foyer, and then led us
into their library, complete with overstuffed chairs in reading areas, and ambience
so inviting, we hated to leave it.

But plans included
lunch with the Doerries at Imo’s in Booker, and earlier irresistible scenery around
Canadian had slowed my driving. We were running late.

Our good-byes came
too soon, but not before tentative plans were laid for another excursion in that
direction--a writers’ weekend in June at Lake Fryer.

In the meantime,
Panhandle residents can easily drive to join the festivities this coming
weekend around Canadian, and scope out fantastic scenery for the delight of
looking or for a possible setting in an upcoming novel.